Are you a little confused by all the different belts in boxing? With lots of different names around for all the different weight classes sometimes can be unclear just what the title a boxer is fighting for. Which is the most important? Is it prestigious? Why there are so many boxing title belts? Let’s find out.
Why are there so many boxing belts?
Unlike most sports, there is no single governing body that decides the rules of boxing, markets and promotes the sport and looks after its long-term future. Instead, there are four governing bodies (IBF, WBA, WBO and WBC) and they all have their own belts respectively.
So in all 17 weight divisions, we can have 4 different world champions.
The IBO and WBU (World Boxing Union) belts are meanwhile considered fringe titles.
These belts are awarded by, in order of incorporation:
- The World Boxing Association (WBA)
- The World Boxing Council (WBC)
- The International Boxing Federation (IBF)
- The World Boxing Organization (WBO)
Tyson Fury beating Wladimir Klitchsko to win all 4 World Titles
Klitschko brothers belt collection
WBA – 1962 – Present
The World Boxing Association (WBA) is the oldest and one of four major organizations that was formed in 1962 in the United States but is now based in Panama. The World Boxing Association can be traced back to the original National Boxing Association, organized in the United States in 1921. The WBA has been plagued with charges of corruption for years. In a 1982 interview, the promoter Bob Arum claimed that he had to pay off WBA officials to obtain rankings for his fighters. This corruption led to many supporters losing faith in the organization and there new organizations were established.
WBC – 1963 – Present
The World Boxing Council (WBC) is often regarded as the most prestigious world title of them all as it is the belt every fighter wants. The WBC first was formed in Mexico in 1963, a year after the WBA. The WBC has held some of the best high profile fights ever watched. Many fighters such as Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier, Sugar Ray Leonard, Floyd Mayweather and Joe Calzaghe have all held a WBC title. Currently, the WBC hosts some of the biggest names in boxing, Gennady Golovkin or “GGG” holds the middleweight title and Deontay Wilder: holds the heavyweight title.
IBF – 1983 – Present
The International Boxing Federation (IBF) was preceded by the United States Boxing Association (USBA). It was created in 1983 after Bob Lee failed in an attempt to become the WBA president. The IBF’s first world champion was Marvin Camel, a former World Boxing Council world cruiserweight champion who won the IBF’s belt in the same division. There are 17 divisions in the IBF, with weights divisions ranging from mini flyweight right up to heavyweight where Anthony Joshua currently holds the title.
WBO – 1988 – Present
The World Boxing Organization (WBO) is based in Puerto Rico. It was formed as part of a divide from the WBA (started after a group of Puerto Rican and Dominican businessmen broke out of the WBA’s 1988 annual convention in Isla Margarita, Venezuela over disputes regarding what rules should be applied). In the lighter weight divisions, however, long-reigning champions during the 1990s such as Chris Eubank, Johnny Tapia, and Naseem Hamed gave the WBO title increasingly more prestige. Other big names to mention are Joseph Parker and Billy Joe Saunders who respectively hold the heavyweight title and middleweight titles in the WBO.
The four bodies rarely agree to work together because they all make money from charging sanction fees – which allow fights to take place for their titles. That makes holding more than one belt exceptionally difficult in the sport.
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